Rodney Frelinghuysen: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Chair, at the onset I want to thank the leadership for helping to bring this…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Chair, at the onset I want to thank the leadership for helping to bring this important legislation to the floor. I also want to thank Chairman Hal Rogers and the Appropriations Committee for their assistance. One of the untold chapters of this post-Sandy story has been the hard work of the chairman and his staff in preparing both his amendment and mine, which follows. Most importantly, I want to thank the chairman for his eloquent statement in the Rules Committee last night. His heartfelt recognition of the hardship and misery suffered by our constituents in the Northeast meant a great deal to me personally and to our New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut delegations. I also want to offer some words of appreciation to my colleagues from New Jersey and New York. Their bipartisan diligence and dedication and that of our staffs over the past several weeks should make all of our constituents proud. And then there is Governor Christie, my constituent from Morris County, whose tireless work has helped us get to this day and will help us get this bill across the finish line. {time} 1440 As he always does, he put a very human face on the devastation suffered by families and communities in New Jersey and our neighbors in New York and Connecticut. My colleagues, people are hurting this afternoon in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut and other areas of the Northeast. The suffering and damage are real and their needs are great.…”